Protected Pasts
by StarWriter0303
Summary: AU: After witnessing the murder of her mother, twenty-five year old Ziva David along with her sister Tali, are forced to move to Baltimore, Maryland under the careful eyes of the U.S. Marshals as they are placed into the Witness Protection Program. With nothing left to lose, one hold-up will forever change her's and Det. Tony DiNozzo's lives.


A/N: This story is A/U and intended for your entertainment. Since I do not work for the Witness Protection Program or the U.S. Marshals, I am not familiar with all of the codes of conduct. What I know is from what I researched. Sorry if any information is incorrect.

Disclaimer: Under no circumstances do I own NCIS or any of its characters.

* * *

Ziva Cohen sighed impatiently as she waited to sign the lease to her new apartment. Even though she wasn't going to be the one paying for the apartment; the only plus side upon being entered into the system, everything still had to be placed in her name to seem official.

_Her name_. The name still seemed foreign in her mouth even though it had been the one given to her a few months ago. _Cohen. Cohen. Cohen._ She internally repeated over and over again, trying to get the last name to stick. It still didn't seem right to her.

But now, Ziva reminded herself once again, she was no longer Ziva David born in Be'er Sheva, Isreal as the oldest daughter to Eli David, the director of Mossad, and Rivka David. She was now 25 year old Ziva Cohen, the eldest daughter to two merchants, who had decided to move to the United States in order to start a life outside of Israel. Or at least, that was the cover that was given to her.

In all honesty, Ziva almost wished she was the daughter of two merchants. Anything would have been better than to be the daughter of Eli David, or now known as one of Israel's most wanted citizens. Because of him, not only could Ziva and her sister never be safe in Israel, but their family name was also tainted forever.

All of these problems started around five months ago when Ziva's mother, Rivka, found out about Eli's illegal actives between a major rouge U.S. Military Contractor group and Mossad. It was because of these rouge U.S. Military Contractors that Ziva and her sister were needed in the U.S. in order for a conviction and were eligible for the W.P.P or Witness Protection Program.

"Ms. Cohen, I'm sorry for your wait," the blonde owner of the building said, bringing Ziva out of her thoughts. "If you could please sign here saying to promise to follow all of the renting rules we should be all set," Ziva nodded as she picked up a pen and scribbled down Ziva Cohen, with only a slight hesitation on the Cohen part. "Thank you and here are your keys. Have a nice day."

"You too," Ziva mumbled, as she grabbed the necessary paperwork and keys and walked out to herlittle sister, who sat outside on the bench talking to Agent Richard James, the U.S. Marshal who had been assigned to their case.

"Did you get the keys?" twelve year old Tali _Cohen _asked, shooting up out of the bench. Even though the sisters had been up for the past 24 hours straight, Tali seemed to not be affected by the time difference what-so-ever.

"Yes, this one is yours, so please do not lose it," Ziva said, as she tossed a single key over. Tali gripped the key with excitement.

"Can I start to unpack now?" Tali eagerly asked. Ziva nodded and Tali quickly grabbed her green backpack and ran into the building.

"Quite the handful you got there," James said as he got up.

"She keeps us on our legs, that is for sure," Ziva laughed as she looked off into the direction Tali went.

"I think you meant toes or feet?" James correct. Ziva shrugged it off. "Anyways, these are yours and every few days or so either myself or my partner will check in with you two," James said handing over a few documents and a cell phone to Ziva. "If any trouble comes up, both of our numbers are in here."

"Thank you," Ziva nodded, clutching the case files as close to her body as possible, as if they would disappear.

"I'll see you in a few days then," James said, as he stepped into his car and drove off. Ziva spun around and walked back into her new building. Ziva rubbed her eyes as she pushed the up button on the elevator, but nothing happened.

"Sorry sweetie," the manager said from behind the desk. "I forgot to mention the elevator is broken. We've been trying to get it fixed for some time now, but no one had come out yet."

"Thanks," Ziva mumbled, as she pushed the door to the stairs open. With that, she started the trek up to her new home and life.


End file.
